Thursday, May 12, 2011

New Bombay Sapphire Product Christened "East"

I still haven't sampled it (I expect to at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, which begins tomorrow), but I now have the name of the new bottling from Bombay gin. It will be called Bombay Sapphire East.

The new gin to be unveiled in July in three test markets (including New York). East is a logical name, for joining the 10-botantical recipe found in regular Bombay Sapphire will be Thai lemongrass and Vietnamese black peppercorn. The original ten ingredients are Spanish almonds, grains of paradise, lemon peel, licorice, juniper, orris root, coriander, cassia bark, and cubeb berries.

Like Bombay Sapphire, which was launched in 1987, and is one of the first premium gins to hit the market, the botanicals for the new liqour will not be steeped in the spirit. Rather, the distilled alcohol vapors are passed through a mesh basket containing the botanicals in order to catch the flavor and aroma.

Sapphire has such a following, I predict the line extension will do splendidly, and enjoy success similar to that of Beefeater 24, a like-minded product that was introduced in late 2008, and features Chinese green and Japanese sencha teas.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Banging my own drum here a little but Fellow Productions recently completed the commercial for Bombay Sapphire East now trialling in US cinemas. We spent 10 gruelling days in Vietnam and Thailand but a thing of real beauty just like the gin.Have a look http://tinyurl.com/c5k4t82

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Robert Simonson writes about spirits, cocktails and wine for such publications as The New York Times, Imbibe, Edible Brooklyn and Manhattan, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, and GQ. He holds an advanced certificate from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, and another from the Beverage Alcohol Resource. He was nominated for 2012 Spirited Award for Best Cocktail Writing.
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